Matching nucleosides

摘要

A fluorescent probe can spot the difference between the four DNA bases: adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine.rnSnorri Sigurdsson and Pavol Cekan from the Universty of Iceland, Reykjavik, have synthesised a highly fluorescent nucleoside (a base bound to a sugar) which can report the identity of its base-pair when placed in a DNA duplex. The fluorescence emitted by the duplex differs depending on which DNA base is paired with the probe.rnAccording to Sigurdsson and Cekan, the probe could find use in detecting single DNA base changes - single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) - at sites where variation can indicate disease. Changes within the gene apolipoprotein E, for example, are considered to be an indicator of predisposition to Alzheimer's. The researchers explain that detecting SNPs with their probe could makernit possible to identify genetic diseases or recognise people who might be susceptible to them. Also, the probe would not only detect a SNP but could indicate which DNA base replaced the correct one.